Retail stocks slid amid sluggish holiday sales reports, delivering bulls a lump of coal on the day after Christmas. Steven Russolillo has the latest on the day in the markets. Photo: AP.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... the the ... you're looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Average which ended stay off about twenty five points while Geoff Rogow you watch these ... two as well to help the Steber slow ... so here we are Christmases and it is the holiday shopping season is over ... and the Dow was down with what is the reason is that the rally that it's it's not here right now that's for sure so the Dow is down now the reason a row for out of the last five ... to eight dollars twenty five points of not really big move but still though you're seeing that the market is pulling back a little bit here head of this fiscal cliff of February's but what's to come ... with these deadlines really quickly approaching and so Pres Obama ... is I he's cutting his Hawaii trip short ... some people think that maybe that's a good sign me that means that people ... a deal could be on the people are not ... up but you know crate now though still lot of uncertainty when it comes to that and so ... on down to sort of drifted in a pretty small range today but I am and finished the day down forty one but only on the decline was consumer stuff is just a piece of data that said ... this holiday shopping season was not very robust ... aam so where were the better fishers are the ones who are hurting ... based on these numbers and so yes they say or write out Macy's was a was that the clatter Saks also been retail in general was just down a fair amount today and I and that is you you alluded to the two data points that show that the holiday shopping season really was not very strong MasterCard's SpendingPulse unit ... that came in and they said that ... of re Telcel's had there but the public so for the worst performance since two thousand ate so ... that's obviously not a good sign itself had been growing a pretty good clip for the last few years now the growth that was pretty flat compared to year-ago so ... AVIC's and didn't look as hot as some people were expecting and see some retailers combat the one the Tiller that actually did okay today was J C Penney ... and that's interesting is J C Penney is up ... twelve thirteen percent this month ... now of course if that take that rise with a grain of salt that stock is going down a lot ... of this year or so ... of that soon changes in how they're in their discounting strategy isn't so some people looking at maybe that's a good sign for the company going forward we will see but the last few days been pretty good for J C Penney protests unless I was from a global set out and over in Japan a legacy of a sudden and that earlier today Japan's ... Prime assertions nobody was officially named the prime minister the elections were for this month and now he's taken the cabinets ... his newly appointed finance minister on Mr. also who was formerly the prime minister ... has a pretty fastening Commons is his main task of these ... six goal is to weaken the yen on what to do on a have a comprehensive plan to weaken the yen ... held at it we are to take it more clear cut than that great and so ... that the dollar yen is now up to its highest level since September two thousand ten ... a lot of people on the market are saying that in twenty thirteen ... they're going to be betting against the yen and for the reasons that you just said if these politicians in this book leaders are saying this specific detail specifically like this ... no because the say that the yen is going to rise so lot people are saying that you know betting against the yen is going to be ... a big bet in twenty thirteen say don't fight the tape be open to Daddy's government ... natural that the buyback of bonds from the paper went on where to get to Herbalife terrific story ... on today on that issue the com I stared in wonder is that ... so Herbalife IV says that on news lately ... some hedge funds are betting against one even called a pyramid scheme ... they're not fighting back is that ... yes all her life is really trying to take steps to show that ... they have a sustainable business money that's what will come to because as you said some high-profile hedge fund managers have come out ... and have basically said this company is a pyramid scheme and were betting against it we are shorting the stock and we don't expect that the rise anytime soon so ... they're taking steps to kind of comeback that they have hired a strategic advisor they've had announced the invest in and analysts say that's going to happen on January ten ... and they're working with the law firm ... so all these steps just any show that Herbalife is taking these ... these these fights against him in taking them seriously and are doing everything everything they can ... to try to instill more investor confidence in the company now whether that happens I was that the big mall to knowing the request remains the scene but for now the stock at a nice of move today up about five percent it was up about eleven percent at the day's peak spending came back a little bit ... of but still though ... the stock is really come up was down thirty eight percent last week alone for the year is down more than forty percent so it's really been hit hard ... that deal these worries about all these hedge fund ads that are betting against the company and so ... time will tell and a lot is riding on this analyst day which is on January ten and so ... leading up to that people are going to be wondering what are they can announce whether they can and do what they can have a really good ... on stance against what things like Bill Ackman and I pad Meanie Tilson of said so ... that the people are focused on right now ... stock at a nice move today aam but ... you know whether continues Avici remains to be seen what will thank you so much for joining us ... thank you please make sure to read more about his work on commission dot com ... the market people I ... have a wonderful back ...